Traditionally, computer systems are designed to be able to continuously run a fairly worst-case power load. Design according to such a continuous worst-case power load has never been much of a problem, because traditionally the individual components have had modest operating powers and the computer systems have had large power budgets so that the systems could sustain the load fairly naturally.
As the operating power consumptions of the individual components of computer system creep upwards, the power budgets of the computer systems have become tighter. It is now becoming a challenge to design a computer system to keep its temperature below a critical temperature while pursuing various goals, such as high computing power, compactness, quietness, better battery performance, etc. The critical temperature can be defined as a temperature at or near a surface of the computer system, such as a bottom of a laptop computer or the bottom of a cellular telephone (e.g., a “smartphone”).
Typically, for computer systems the value of a critical temperature threshold involves an important temperature-performance trade-off. Generally, a low critical temperature threshold provides the user with a better cooling experience, whereas a high critical temperature threshold provides better performance. Currently, a critical temperature threshold of the computer system cannot be adjusted. Typically, a critical temperature threshold is set at a computer manufacturing stage in the middle between the high critical temperature threshold and the low critical temperature threshold as a compromise between the cooling experience and the performance.